What is eSports and why do people watch it
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigate why people spectate eSports on the internet and find that escapism, acquiring knowledge about the games being played, novelty and eSports athlete aggressiveness positively predict eSport spectating frequency.
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to investigate why do people spectate eSports on the internet. The authors define eSports (electronic sports) as “a form of sports where the primary aspects of the sport are facilitated by electronic systems; the input of players and teams as well as the output of the eSports system are mediated by human-computer interfaces.” In more practical terms, eSports refer to competitive video gaming (broadcasted on the internet).,The study employs the motivations scale for sports consumption which is one of the most widely applied measurement instruments for sports consumption in general. The questionnaire was designed and pre-tested before distributing to target respondents (n=888). The reliability and validity of the instrument both met the commonly accepted guidelines. The model was assessed first by examining its measurement model and then the structural model.,The results indicate that escapism, acquiring knowledge about the games being played, novelty and eSports athlete aggressiveness were found to positively predict eSport spectating frequency.,During recent years, eSports (electronic sports) and video game streaming have become rapidly growing forms of new media in the internet driven by the growing provenance of (online) games and online broadcasting technologies. Today, hundreds of millions of people spectate eSports. The present investigation presents a large study on gratification-related determinants of why people spectate eSports on the internet. Moreover, the study proposes a definition for eSports and further discusses how eSports can be seen as a form of sports.
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TL;DR: An eight-factor socio-motivational model, based on Uses and Gratifications Theory, was trialled to explain four aspects of live-stream viewer engagement: social interaction, sense of community, meeting new people, entertainment, information seeking, and a lack of external support in real life.
365 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined five distinct types of motivations from the uses and gratifications perspective: cognitive, affective, personal integrative, social integrative and tension release.
311 citations
TL;DR: It can be posited that games are multi-purpose ISs which nevertheless rely on hedonic factors, even in the pursuit of instrumental outcomes, as well as the ways in which they are used.
207 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors reflect on whether eSports can be considered as sport based on evaluating five characteristics of sport and assessing them for eSports, and different opportunities how marketers and managers can attend to eSports are outlined.
205 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue for the inclusion of organized e-sports events and competitions within sport management vis-a-vis e-games meeting certain defining criteria of sport in general.
199 citations
References
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TL;DR: The authors found that after experiencing a visible personal failure, subjects enhanced the asserted quality of their home university (basking) and devalued the claimed quality of a rival university (blasting), and Experiment 2 showed that conditions designed to produce increasing levels of image damage resulted in increasing amounts of subsequent basking and blasting.
Abstract: The impression-management techniques of basking and blasting were examined in a pair of field studies. These techniques were characterized as indirect rather than direct tactics of self-presenta tion because they can be seen to influence one's image in the eyes of observers, not through the direct presentation of information about oneself but rather through the presentation of positive or negative information about something with which one is merely associated. In both experiments, it was found that after experiencing a visible personal failure, subjects enhanced the asserted quality of their home university (basking) and devalued the asserted quality of a rival university (blasting). Further, Experiment 2 showed that conditions designed to produce increasing levels of image damage resulted in increasing amounts of subsequent basking and blasting. It is suggested that because of a tendency within observers for cognitive balance, individuals highly desirous of increased public prestige arrange to be positively connected with positive things and negatively connected with negative things in the observers' eyes. Implications of these findings for the area of intergroup relations are discussed. The tendency to bask in reflected glory (BIRG) has been suggested by Cialdini et al. (1976) as an image-management tactic. They argued that individuals often seek to display their connections with highly successful others to gain the esteem of observers to these connections. They argued further that the attempt to bask in the reflected glory of a successful other occurs even when the BIRGer can claim no responsibilit y for the other's success. Thus, even the most tenuous connections between an individual and a successful other are candidates for public presentation in the pursuit of enhanced prestige. It is not uncommon, for instance, to hear people publicly boast about the times that they merely shook hands with famous celebrities, sports stars, or political figures.
462 citations
TL;DR: The results suggest that the relationship between utilitarian benefits and use is mediated by the attitude toward the use of gamification, while hedonic aspects have a direct positive relationship with use.
436 citations
TL;DR: It is proposed that the online game players' physical and social proximity as well as their mutual familiarity influence bridging and bonding social capital, and that both social capital dimensions are positively related to offline social support.
368 citations
01 Jan 2002
TL;DR: In effect, I suppose I was unknowingly using my second reality as a social experiment and it has become very much a learning experience for me.
Abstract: In effect, I suppose I was unknowingly using my second reality as a social experiment and it has become very much a learning experience for me. Meg, virtual world user.
358 citations
TL;DR: The results show that both the gratifications and service mechanisms significantly affect a players' continued motivation to play, which is crucial to a player's proactive stickiness to an online game.
341 citations